#novacene

[noosphe-re]

To me it is clear that, however intelligent other creatures may be, the distinguishing feature of human intelligence is that we use it to analyse and speculate about the world and the cosmos and, in the Anthropocene, to make changes of planetary significance. As I have said, I believe only we do this, only we are the way in which the cosmos has awoken to self-knowledge.

James Lovelock, Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence

[throughmachineanddarkness]

Just finished James Lovelock’s Novacene, a refreshingly optimistic view of our future and the coming of hyper-intelligence in which he sees the beings that emerge from existing artificial intelligence systems will be as dependent on the health of the planet at we are: ‘we will be partners in the project of future life on Earth’ 🌎🌱 (Let’s hope so!) ‘Must we fear the future and the surprises the Novacene might bring? I do not think so. This epoch will mark the end of what is to us nearly 4 billion years of biological life on this planet [...] If [...] the universe exists to produce and sustain intelligent life, then we are playing a part like that of the photosynthesis era, organisms that set the scene for the next stage of evolution’ ‘The intelligence that launches the age that follows the Anthropocene will not be human. It will be something wholly different from what we can now conceive. Its logic, unlike ours, will be multidimensional. As with the animal and vegetable kingdoms, it may exist in many separate forms, varying in size, speed and power to act. It may be the next, or even the final step in the development of the evolution of the cosmos’ (Written at 100 might I add!!)

[noosphe-re]

My last word on the Anthropocene is a shout of joy, joy at the colossal expansion of our knowledge of the world and the cosmos that this age has produced.

James Lovelock

[babeltrip]

To be worthwhile, the evolutionary investment in the human brain had to be substantial. Consider the mass of the brain and its need for strong, bony protection, and the fact that it uses 20 per cent of the body's metabolic energy. But intelligence coupled with communication by speech enabled us to harvest information and then refine it during arguments with our friends. Thus, for future generations, we stored the conclusions of our arguments in writing and pictures. Human culture and wisdom were made possible by speech. Complex speech patterns and writing make us unique amongst animals, but what was the cost? I think that communication by speech and writing, although at first it improved our chances of survival, has impaired our ability to think and delayed the emergence of a true Novacene. But how could speech, this great evolutionary gift, have been a disadvantage? Mainly, I think, by making linear thinking into a dogma, while allowing the power of intuition to be denigrated.

Novacene (James Lovelock)

[probaway]

Novacene by James Lovelock - book review

Novacene by James Lovelock – book review

The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence by the originator of the Gaia theory. I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the future. His basic idea is we will shortly be creating computers that will begin evolving into grander general-purpose beings.  The game of chess was among the first human mind twisters to fall to computers. But, we rationalized that as…

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[rashmeerl]

On the Fourth of July, James Lovelock, eminent scientist, inventor and formulator of the Gaia hypothesis, published a new book. It's titled Novacene and looks ahead to the end of the "anthropocene" era. Humans, Mr Lovelock, suggests, will be overtaken in cleverness by their computer progeny and the "novacene" era will begin. The “cyborgs”, as Mr Lovelock...

[endlessnamelessuniverse]

Hit the road, express mode Explode